Jim Gilmore In Hot Water

July 24, 2008

Former Virginia governor James S. Gilmore III, the state's Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, submitted false information on two financial disclosure forms that hid his ties to a government contractor embroiled in a legal dispute over allegations that two of its executives had conspired to defraud the federal government.

On the forms, the first filed in June 2007 for his presidential campaign and the second in May after he joined the U.S. Senate race, Gilmore said he was on the board of Windmill International. Gilmore, who signed his name attesting that the information on the forms was "complete and correct," reported that Windmill International was based in Nashua, N.H. But Gilmore was on the board of a Virginia-based company also called Windmill International. The two companies are not affiliated.

Of course, he's insisting it was a clerical error and not an intentional effort at deception. But I think this piece of information largely rules that out:

Gilmore also reported that Windmill International is a "veterans contract group." Richard L. Manganello, founder and chief executive officer of the New
Hampshire company, which describes itself as a contracting firm run by
veterans, said neither he nor his business has had any ties to Gilmore
... "I don't recall ever hearing of Jim Gilmore." The Virginia-based Windmill describes itself as "a leading consultancy
for financial and government services, as well as project management in
Central and Eastern Europe." The description, on its Web site, does not
mention veterans.

The Virginia group, in 2005, reported Gilmore as its vice president. Furthermore, he's still listed on their website as part of the "team!" This really deserves the Eliot Spitzer Award for Staggering Stupidity for the month of July, or maybe the whole summer. Who on Team Gilmore thought Googling to find another random company called "Windmill International" would be a clever idea?